AHA Press Release – Kathleen Griffin

“You’re Beautiful When You’re Angry”

On Exhibit: February 20th – March 20, 2016

AHA Fine Art is pleased to present You’re Beautiful when You’re Angry, Kathleen Griffin’s first solo exhibit opening Saturday, February 20th from 6-8pm at 139 Eldridge St., NYC. You’re Beautiful when You’re Angry is a compilation of sculptures and mixed media drawings. Similarly, Griffin’s three bodies of work: Vulture Drawings, The Mysteries of Space, and the horse series, explore loss, resistance, and transitioning from one state into another.

“I started to see white horses, the symbol of freedom and romance changing into everyday objects, sinks, tubs and shower parts as seen in Embryo (shown right), domesticated and transformed by the desires inherent in those objects, hygiene, security and comfort, a creature becoming the traps it built for itself. I no longer wanted to make work about chasing desire but instead, work about the attainment of those desires and the transformations they impose.” – Kathleen Griffin

In the Mysteries of Space drawings, Kathleen Griffin examines part of a larger mystery of space by layering her celestial drawings on top of hand written formulas. The physicists involved in this project investigate theories of space, such as The Black Hole and The Strategic Defense Initiative, a missile defense system intended to protect America from strategic nuclear weapons attacks, eventually nicknamed Star Wars. Griffin’s graphite depictions of beams of sunlight juxtaposed with clouds and stormy weather, envelop scientific instruments, still allowing the viewer to see the mathmatical inspiration in the background layers, alluding to the connection of science and spirituality, -the larger enigma of space.

While traveling in Cambodia along side a conservation biologist who tracked vultures, Griffin also began to study their inhabitants and gradual disappearance. Griffin remarks that in many cultures vultures are seen as transitional creatures that symbolize both death and rebirth. Through her graphite and silver leafing depictions of vultures (shown left), Griffin highlights their stark beauty that is often overlooked.

The materials in Griffin’s sculptures include homemade sculpted candy, porcelain, fiberglass, and brass. Griffin describes candy as being its own language of overwhelming desire, evoking overpowering emotion, beauty and desire. The porcelain sculptures were created during Griffin’s residency at the San Bao Ceramic Institute in Jingdezhen, China.

Kathleen Griffin is a painter and sculptor from upstate New York. She completed her BFA in Experimental Studio Art at Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, CT and her MFA in Sculpture from The Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been shown throughout the US and Internationally in Prague, Berlin, and China. Griffin participated in several residencies including Kohler Company and San Bao Ceramic Institute. Her work resides in several collections, such as The Rhode Island School of Design Collection, Providence Kohler Library Company, and the State Collection Jingdezhen, San Bao Institute